Food label printer - any recommendations please?

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paulbshooting

paulbshooting

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Hello, looking for a food label printer to print onto fridge / freezer proof labels to stick onto vac packs of venison. Don't need high volume printing, just one standard size label that I can edit the contents on my laptop and print out. Had a look online and mind blowing! thank you.
 
paulbshooting said:
Hello, looking for a food label printer to print onto fridge / freezer proof labels to stick onto vac packs of venison. Don't need high volume printing, just one standard size label that I can edit the contents on my laptop and print out. Had a look online and mind blowing! thank you.
Click to expand...
Watching with interest......!
Weigh and print scales are, as you say, mind-blowingly expensive. Older 2nd hand ones are cheap enough, but you don't have the option to edit on a PC, only on the machine itself, which is nigh on impossible without the original user manual. Nigh on impossible with the manual too!
 
I use some waterproof freezer labels off eBay - A4 sheet of them and I set up a template in Word. Used to run them through the laser printer at work and they didn't run when wet. Not in the office at the minute so having to use my inkjet printer at home and the ink does smear if wet. However, you could buy a cheap laser printer for not too much money these days? I'd be interested in any other options out there though.

www.ebay.co.uk

A4 Freezer Labels White Matt Self-Adhesive Frozen Food Storage Label Planet® | eBay UK

These labels are supplied on A4 sheets of standard matt white paper and have a special freezer adhesive. They can be printed on laser printers and photocopiers. Product information - freezer labels are used to ensure that frozen food products have key information clearly marked on them as...
www.ebay.co.uk
 
i got some from A4 label sheets stationary shop - waterproof and so they are - it’s the ink that has run
any ideas or is there a non run ink that can be purchased
 
Thanks, there are some small sensible cost thermal printers but the choice is mind blowing. Might end up speaking to a printer OEM but keen to see if anyone has any recommendations.
 
Dynamo printer with roll of labels

something like this, spits out the labels in whatever quantity and they stick and stay stuck to vak pac rolls no bother and all my stuff goes into freezer and they stay on.
this is fine for me and my freezer and needs but if going professional and information needed is more then maybe something else
 

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To produce labels that won't deteriorate in the freezer go for a thermal printer. The grocery industry has used these for decades to produce labels that are affixed to the pallets that go into chilled and frozen storage. There will be no ink bleed, and no fading unless you plan to keep your venison frozen for 20 years or more!

I use one of these, a Brother QL-700: QL-700 | High Speed Address Label Printer | Brother UK

I bought mine second-hand on eBay for 36 quid - there are normally plenty available.

It has proven to be excellent, with a variety of label sizes available along with bundled software (Brother's own P-Touch Editor) that allows easy design of attractive labels. I have it hooked up to the laptop that I keep in the larder, so that I can produce the labels directly once I have packaged up the meat cuts. The feedback from customers, friends and family has been excellent - very professional looking labels that are easy to read.

I sell by piece, rather than by weight, but I still print the weight on the labels where necessary.

I get genuine Brother labels from Amazon at just under a tenner for 400: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0006HIONW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is how they look:

Example Label.jpg

Clearly my Hunter ID is normally filled in, as is the Carcase ID from the register I keep on an Excel spreadsheet on the laptop.

In the white box at the bottom I print my name, address and other contact details, whilst for burgers and sausages I also list the full ingredients on the label including the fact that they may contain gluten. This is printed under where this label says "Venison (Muntjac) Haunch". I have since made a few changes, such as including the cull date, but it hopefully gives the general idea.

These are the labels that I shared with the EHO, who was very happy with them.
 
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Thanks for the great advice. Thermal printing seems to be the way to go. Just finalising EH approval so a durable and professional label will be great, with the option to add allergens and other info depending on what I produce and sell.
 
Thermal printing is a lot more flexible than either laser or inkjet printing. Why argue with what the supermarkets and consumer goods companies have known for years?

Having spent over 30 years working professionally in the logistics space there are good reasons for using thermal - configurability, ease of use, longevity, speed, etc. I toyed with the idea of buying an industrial thermal printer such as a Zebra or Intermec, as I have programmed both in the past, but to be honest the results from the Brother are so good it makes the very idea a nonsense. I have been hugely impressed with it.

If or when my second-hand unit packs up I would buy a new one tomorrow without even bothering to look at alternatives.
 
willie_gunn said:
Thermal printing is a lot more flexible than either laser or inkjet printing. Why argue with what the supermarkets and consumer goods companies have known for years?

Having spent over 30 years working professionally in the logistics space there are good reasons for using thermal - configurability, ease of use, longevity, speed, etc. I toyed with the idea of buying an industrial thermal printer such as a Zebra or Intermec, as I have programmed both in the past, but to be honest the results from the Brother are so good it makes the very idea a nonsense. I have been hugely impressed with it.

If or when my second-hand unit packs up I would buy a new one tomorrow without even bothering to look at alternatives.
Click to expand...

Thanks - I'll likely go down this route when have exhausted my current printer labels. The original advantage of laser printing was I could use the big printers at work so only needed to buy the labels themselves rather than invest in a thermal printer. It's not such a good option now I'm working from home and only have inkjet!
 
75 said:
Thanks - I'll likely go down this route when have exhausted my current printer labels. The original advantage of laser printing was I could use the big printers at work so only needed to buy the labels themselves rather than invest in a thermal printer. It's not such a good option now I'm working from home and only have inkjet!
Click to expand...

Also with laser printing you need to format and fill a full page of labels before printing, at least if you want to avoid excessive wastage. Having to then get into work to print them (it would be the same for me) also adds delay.

The thermal printing option is much more flexible.
 
BTW, following discussions with another member here I have now discovered an additional feature.

Via the Brother P-Touch software it is possible to set up the labels so that they link to an Excel spreadsheet, which can then be used to "merge" with a label template and produce all the necessary labels in one batch.

This means that I can now set up all the data in the spreadsheet in one go for a particular carcass (species, date, ID, cut, weight, special instructions, etc.) and then print the labels en masse. Makes life easier still. :thumb:
 
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